As if I'd ever not love you
by Someone You Thought You Knew
Summary: Keaira and Rei had grown up together, Witch and Vampire they'd also grown to hate each other in school..but when Damien Heartstring, The new Vampire on the block starts making moves on Keaira, Rei realizes something they'd been avoiding...that they were s
1. Default Chapter

Keaira McMannis sighed and sat down beside Rei Morgan. She had hated him with a passion all through school, and there were good reasons too. Keaira was a witch, born and raised, but she'd never really went around bragging about it; Rei was a vampire, beautiful, eternal and constantly conceded. She didn't bother looking over at the beautiful blonde. He'd never had a kind word to say to her, or a word at all for that matter. No, Rei and Keaira had known each other for years, been raised with each other, but she could't stand him. At first, all the girls envied her for their family ties, told her how they wanted to be in her position, some would even go so far as to befriend her and spend the night in hopes of seeing him. She sighed, She could never see what was so great about Rei Morgan. 

"Miss McMannis." The teacher, Mr. Rhodus looked up at her from his desk. "Could you come forward please?"   
Sighing and nervous the entire way, Keaira walked up. "Yes sir?" 

"There's a new student today, I'd like you to show him around." He pointed to the door. "Damien Heartstring....you're excused from class this afternoon to give him a tour." Keaira sighed, her ebony curls fell in her face as she nodded, collected her things then went out to show the new guy around. She could tell something was different about him, something inside him screamed he was in the NightWorld, but...you never spoke of those things in public. After the day was over, she politely told him goodbye and started walking home to her Grandmothers shop, which she stayed at. She'd never expected Rei to be sitting in the shop talking to her Gram Marygold to be talking to him. 

"Ah...Keaira, you're home!" she smiled from her cup of tea.   
"Grams...Rei." she let his name roll off her tounge in disguest, he hated it when he beat her home. 

"Ahh...Keaira sweetheart I was beginning to get worried about you...Rei said you left school an hour ago..." Gram Marygold stood up.   
"Yeah...I gave Illana a ride home, and we stopped by DiscLand to pick a few things up." she gave her allaby with no more than a second thought. "IS that the tea pot I hear?" she asked. 

"Oh..yes." Marygold laughed and smiled. "Musta left it on, dear me...Well. I'm going to go call your Great Auntie Rosengurtal, you two behave yourselves alright..." she gave Keaira the 'It wouldn't hurt _you_ to call her once and a while...now be nice to our company' look. After the older woman was out of the room, Keaira let her smile drop with a sigh.

"What are you doing here? Harassing my poor old grams?" she had her hands on her hips and was glaring daggers at Rei. 

"Wanted to check up on you..I mean, after a day with the new vampire...I figured you'd be toast..." He stood up and sat his tea cup down with an arrogant smile. Keaira grabbed the cookie from his mouth and tossed it in his tea cup.   
"What would it have mattered to you huh?" she asked with a snap, grabbing his arm and pulling him through the great foyer that stood as the store and pushed him to the door.   
Rei laughed as she did so, but scanned her body for bite marks, he was the only vampire that _ever_ fed on her.   
"Sheez...you act as though chivalry is lost upon me..." He rolled his eyes as she pushed him to the great large door that graced the front of the massive house. 

"It is." she said flatly doing her best to push him out of the doorframe, but he held on tight. "Can't I be worried about an old playmate?"   
"Old playmate?" she rolled her eyes. "Give it a rest Rei, really!" she thought about kicking him between the legs to get him the rest of the way out of the house, it wouldn't have been the first time...  
"Honestly. A new vampire shows up and you get all chummy with me?" she laughed. "It's gonna take a LOT more than that to make me change my mind about you!" she pointed a slender finger in his face. With a cocky grin, Rei extended his fangs and pretended to snap at her. 

"Go." she said, refusing to find the humor in his last action. 

"Fine...Fine...I guess I'll go pack my bags, since I'm staying here for the weekend..." he laughed.   
"What are you blabbering about?" she sighed. 

"Grams is going to a Daybreaker meeting....so...she invited me to stay here and watch over you, wasn't that soo sweet of her?" with his best 'Do hate me because I'm beautiful' smile he continued. "So...being the gentleman that I am, I accepted..."   
"OHHHH..." She growled and pushed him out of the doorframe. "GET OUT!" she slammed the door in his face. She couldn't believe it, her grandmother had ACTUALLY invited him to stay... This was NOT going to be a good weekend. 


	2. Chapter 2

Keaira closed the door behind Rei. She couldn't believe her Grandmother Marygold had invited him to stay for the weekend while she was out of town. Keaira was furious. She locked the door and turned the sign to "Closed" then stormed up to her bedroom. It was beautifully yet awkwardly decorated with Celtic prints in various shades of blue and green. She had several different band posters on her walls, and three book shelves full of everything from ancient looking books with barely visible spines to book that looked fresh off the press. She landed with a thud in the full size canopy bed and curled into a ball holding her faded brown teddy bear as close to her chest as she could. She listened to the breeze that crept through the large oak tree that branched out beside her second story balcony sized window. She was half tempted to sneak out that window and down the oak tree to take a walk as far away from Rei Morgan as she could get. She could remember the days that he used to sneak up the exact same oak to wake her up in the mornings for Saturday cartoons or to go play, and then come back that night after curfew with the latest horror flick and hold her hand through the entire movie. They'd been friends all growing up, all the way till middle school, when she went to Germany for a year to stay with her Aunt Rosengurtel and participate in the study abroad program. When she came home, she'd grown up a lot, she'd gotten taller, grew a chest, and had gotten rid of her glasses for contacts. Guys started paying attention to her, following her home, or picking on her while she was in school, and that was when Rei stopped coming over. It started swiftly, they stopped talking civil words in the halls, and all his friends harassed her with cat calls as she walked around the mall. She sighed. She'd secretly missed those days, when they were best friends, and he told her everything...now he just jumped from one girl to another, feeding on them, using them, then dumping them.   
"You could act a little more happy about it Keaira..." She heard his voice from the window. "I mean...it's the first sleepover we've had since we were ten.." 

"And what do you propose to do?...I mean...it's not like we're friends now is it?" She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. 

"Ah come on now..." He pouted. "Saying things like that could hurt my feelings you know..." He crossed his arms in mock of her. 

"What feelings?" she asked and started to close her windows. "Leave me alone Rei...I've got homework to do!." 

"Wait!" he pushed the window open again and crawled inside. "I'll do my best to behave this weekend...I won't even bring food in the house." he winked. Keaira pushed him out of the room. "Go away! I'm serious!" Rei grabbed her by her arms.   
"Watch yourself." he warned his face dead, or undead if you will, serious. "All I'm saying." he then backed off and left. 

She slammed the window behind him. "OOOH!" she growled and walked over to one of her bookshelves, scanning for a new book to read to keep her mind off of Rei. He looked so serious, so concerned about her. It was odd. He hadn't looked at her that way in years. It sent chills up her spine, chills she spent middle school trying to get to go away. Rei had been her crush for _years_. And for good reason, they were raised sooo close to each other. In fact, Rei's parents had a picture of them kissing under mistletoe during Christmas when they were six and seven. She laughed. She had that exact same picture behind a few other framed ones on her desk. She reached back and picked it up. Part of her wanted to be back in those days, having fun, being friends with him. Why did he have to grow up to be such a jerk? She thought to herself. With a sigh, she grabbed her book bag and started working on her honors English homework. It was three essays on medieval practices. 


	3. Chapter 3

Keaira sprang up from the bed. It was burning hot to her room for some reason. She had skipped dinner, and knew she heard the door open later and Rei's voice as he talked with Grams for hours. She had avoided it all, but now her stomach was killing her with hunger. She threw her covers off and walked down to the main kitchen in her boxer style panties and tank top. It was her usual night time apparel. She opened the door to the fridge to find leftovers in Tupperware. Bucket steak, and cheese mashed potatoes. She smiled as she put it in the microwave. Her Grams always made her something nice and wholesome before leaving for a weekend. She usually left her money so she could go out to eat at a good restaurant, instead of ordering pizza or going through a drive thru real quick. She didn't hear Rei walk up behind her. "You look good like that." He laughed as he stood beside her by the counter. 

"God...shouldn't you be in your coffin somewhere?" she asked taking her food from the microwave. 

"My my...Testy tonight arn't we?" he snapped the strap to her tank top with a grin. "Gee Keaira, you look hot in that...take it off.."   
She rolled her eyes and took the food from the microwave, sitting up on the counter. "Why won't you just leave?.." she asked taking a bite of the re-heated steak. 

"Because K, I love your company." he showed his fangs with his smile. "And you're mighty tasty." he laughed. 

"Everything's a joke to you huh?" she sighed. "I'm not that stupid anymore-"  
"Letting me feed off you, rather illegally might I add, was stupid of you" he made a pffteing noise. "Whatever K...we had fun back then.." he sighed, his silver eyes rolling under the shaggy blonde bangs. 

"Yeah...whatever." she said putting the lid on her food and shoving it back in the microwave, jumping down from the counter. "I'm going back to bed.."   
"And I'm coming with you." He grinned slyly. 

"No...you most certainly are not." she nearly stopped in her tracks, brown hair falling in her face. Her blue eyes sparkled underneath. 

"Hey...it's a sleepover isn't it?" he put an arm around her shoulders. "Come on...at least let me tuck you in..."   
She was fuming. "Get your hands off me!" she said elbowing him. 

"OH come on!" he started to tickle her. 

"Get away from me!" she start to fight back, but before she knew it he had her down on the ground tickling her so hard she could barely breath. 

"REI!" she squeaked out.   
"Keaira?!" he mocked. "Oh fine..." he let her up. "Now...see...I'm not the big bad vampire evil dude that you've been acting like I am for five years..."   
"Six." She corrected. 

"Oh same difference!" He rolled his silver eyes again. "The fact of the matter is I'm still the same guy." he locked eyes with her. It stayed that way for a few moments, silent in the middle of the grand kitchen, locked in each others eyes, either of them willing or able to speak. 

"You're not the same." she blinked first. "Far from it." her lips were tight and she turned to walk out. He grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. 

"What are you talking about?" he asked, angry and hurt lingering in his mysterious eyes. 

"Forget it Rei." she pulled away from him. "Neither of us are the same now...wake up and realize that." then she stormed back up to her room, but he was hot on her tail.   
"No." he nearly growled. "What do you mean by all that?!" He felt the air of her door as she slammed it shut in his face. Rather forcefully he threw it open, giving thanks to his vampiric strength. 

"Get out!" She yelled at him started to push him out the door.   
"Tell me what you mean!" he yelled back. 

"Nothing Rei!" she nearly spat his name. "Nothing ok?!"   
"No..it's not ok!" he threw her down on the bed, glaring down at her. "Keaira, what's the deal?! What's your beef with me?!"   
"My beef with you?" she stood up and laughed. "Rei, you're the one who started being all asshole like when I got back from Germany!"   
"You'd changed!" he retorted. 

"Whatever Rei!" she sighed. "I'm tired-"  
"And Cranky!"

"AND I'm going to bed...so...if you'd kindly leave my room.." she pointed to the door. With a sigh, Rei walked out. "Fine...but we're talking in the morning..." 


	4. Chapter 4

The storm crashed around them that morning, well, what was suppose to be morning but looked like night. Keaira pulled the covers over her head and sighed. She just wanted to sleep in. Five freakin' am. She growled at the alarm clock and curled up in a ball under the covers holding her teddy bear tight to her chest. Why couldn't she sleep? IT wasn't because Rei was supposedly sleeping in the room across the hall. She sighed. Yeah, so it was tempting to go get in bed with him...after all he knew how much she hated storms. She used to do that when he'd sleep over, if his parents were gone on a trip...or he'd even go as far as to sneak in through her window to keep her company. She smiled, how she'd missed those days....

"Hey...K..." She heard his voice as he walked in. Rei pulled the covers up and crawled in bed with Keaira, he held her close and they didn't speak for nearly an hour. She felt safe for some reason, something about him....

She shook the thought. No. She wasn't going to think about that...

"I remembered how much you hated storms growing up..." he kissed the top of her head and held her against his bare chest. Funny how she hadn't thought about him being in his boxers only, just about him being there.

"You're warm..." she said quietly as he just stroked her hair until they were both fast asleep. 

((OOC Note: Hey! Hi ..I'm the writer here! Uhmm...sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but the scene is so important on its own...it deserves it's own place...so here it is ^_^ Hope you all enjoyed...I plan on updating again soon ^^; ja ne ~ Nik))


	5. Chapter 5

It wasn't until noon that they started to wake up. The storm had calmed, and the sun was shinning in through the window and right on Rei's face. He opened his eyes slowly and looked down at Keaira, she was snuggled up to him, her usual comfort bear, on the floor by the bed. He smiled. She looked so beautiful, peaceful, calm down in his arms. Like the world around them could crash down all around them but it wouldn't matter because they were in each others arms. He lay in that blissful moment as long as he could before reality crashed down on him. Blood. He needed blood. He swallowed nervously. He couldn't call Christa up, because it might ruin the wonderful morning he was having with Keaira, He sighed knowing good a well that Keaira would never agree to let him feed off her, not again. There were animals...yes, he could get an animal from the woodland areas behind their houses...but what if she woke up with out him. What would that do to what they had last night? Did they even have anything? He sighed. Yes, he knew they had something, but she'd never see it that way. He looked down at her full red lips and wanted nothing more than to kiss them, wake her from her slumber and make all her pain and anger go away. His eyes betrayed him, and he found veins in her neck pulsating with blood and tempting him. He felt his fangs extend, but he pulled away. He was a jerk, a bastard, an asshole, a deviant and an bad ass, but he would never let anyone accuse him of feeding off of Keaira without permission. He pulled away from her and got out of bed, running a had through his blonde hair quickly, shaking and scratching his head lightly trying to figure out exactly what he was to do. He forced his fangs back as she started to stir. 

"Rei?.." blue eyes opened slowly and sneered at the sunlight. "What.." she sat up and yawned. "What happened?" she checked her neck first of all, but no...no pain and no marks. She wasn't suprised really, just shocked at herself for actually checking. 

"The storm." Rei answered quietly. "You..." he coughed. "Well...I'm gonna go on ...get a shower and ...go out for a little while." 

"To feed." she stood up and pulled her hair back in a quick pony tail. 

"Yeah.." he looked away. "You gonna be ok here by yourself?"   
"I've been home alone several times throughout the years Rei, I'm sure I can handle it." she said in a half yawn as she grabbed a short silky robe from her closet door and threw it on quickly. "But..." she looked over her shoulder at him. "Thanks for your concern." she said in barely a whisper. Rei did his best to resist the urge to take her in his arms and kiss her. What was his problem lately? He shook his head. Sure yeah, Keaira was hot, and sure yeah, they'd grown up together...but. No. He shook his head again and swallowed. 

"I'm allowed to worry about you ...ya know." He said almost defensively. She sighed. "Who are you gonna feed from now?" she asked quietly. "Going to go call Christa over for an afternoon romp..?" she said the last part in an almost spiteful voice, and as she turned around he was inches away from her face. 

"Maybe I'll just bleed you..." he had his fangs extended. "See if you're still such a bitch then?!" Keaira didn't even blink. The one site that most girls would freak out over, she just yawned. "Fine...better me than some unsuspecting bimbo right?" She walked around him. Rei was in awe. Had she just agreed to let him feed off of her? 

She walked over to the bed, pulled her hair to one side and leaned her neck out. "Well...go on." she shrugged sheepishly. Walking slowly and trying to decide if she was serious or not, he sat down on the bed beside her.   
"You...you're just teasing me K..." he said licking his fangs in anticipation. 

"I said do it you idiot...so do it.." she looked over at him. "But not much...I have to work the shop today..."   
Without another word, Rei sank his teeth in, so to speak. A flood of emotions waved over both of them. This hadn't happened before when they were younger! Rei was sure of one thing, it was great. She was so rich, so ... desirable. Keaira felt something as well, and it was nothing that he was sending to her mentally, it was some sort of a gut feeling. 

~Do you...feel it?~ she asked quietly in her mind. 

~You too huh...~ was his response. ~Maybe we should test the theory..~ 

~Soulmates?!~ She opened her eyes wide as he pulled away. 

"Definitely..." Rei answered verbally before drowning her mouth in a bloody kiss. 


	6. Chapter 6

Keaira pushed Rei away and whipped her mouth. Blood was everywhere. She glared at Rei but he merely licked his lips and fangs clean grinning at her madly. She was appalled, turned on for sure, but appalled all the same. 

"What what that!" She pushed him down from the bed to the floor jumping up on the bed to put that little bit of distance between them. Laughter poured out of his mouth as she "moon walked" across the bed and jumped off the opposite side from him. 

"What?" he smiled in an attempt to fake innocence. "That kiss?"

"THAT **_KISS_**!!!" her hands were balled into fists at her sides. She couldn't believe he did that. Why that...that....that!! She shook her head and tried to calm down. The kiss was more than just magical, she'd felt it's work before. She knew what he was trying to prove, still she didn't know why he was trying to prove it. His parents and her Grams knew all along that they were soul mates, but they also knew that something had torn the two apart. It was some unmentionable tragedy that they thought was near impossible to overcome. Somehow in the mix of their high school years each others names were scarcely mentioned in the others home. Keaira would ignore her grandmother when she would bring news about something she had heard or seen Rei did or do. And Rei, he would snarl at his mother and father if they mentioned that Keaira was a wonderful girl, and rumor was she was turning out to be a fine witch. The occasional moan or groan was all the Parental Units would receive from the two about each other. 

Yet just at this moment, she felt lost in his eyes. Damn him! Damn everything about that stupid bloodsucking jerk! She couldn't take his stare anymore, she had to focus on something else. Yes...focus on something OTHER than Rei. With a deep inhale she found a subject worth starring at, her copy of "The Outsiders". It was one of her favorite books, and she had the movie stashed away in her closet, watching it if she was alone on a weekend. A brief memory flashed through her mind. Rei had bought her that book. They were at the bookstore together as kids, she wanted to buy it but she didn't have the money, pay day wasn't until that weekend, a long week to pass during a lazy childhood summer. At the soda shop where Rei bought each of them Orange Sherbet Smoothies he insisted that he'd forgotten something at the bookstore, and that she go on home without him. Without a thought she did as he said. That night when she went up to her room she found a copy of it on her pillow with a note tucked inside reading: "I know you want this so bad, and I could never refuse you anything that would make you smile. Take this as a token of my love and appreciation for our friendship. Yours in love with you always - Rei" That note was still her bookmark. She swallowed and her eyes returned to his gaze. Were they sharing the same memories? Rei nodded and sent images to her, memories of the movie version of "The Outsiders" was shown on television, they stayed up late together in the den of his house to watch it, nearly falling asleep on each other toward the end, it didn't matter though, the copy of the movie she had stashed away in her closet now, was the copy he was making that night, after all her birthday was soon. She lowered her head. 

"You were the best friend I ever had. You didn't care that I was a witch even then." she swallowed feeling guilty now. "You didn't care that I had chores and a job to do everyday after school, you were there outside the shop on your bike waiting on me every time." she took a breath.

"Then you left me." He whispered. Slowly she started to remember how the end all started. It was eighth grade, she had been elected to study overseas for a year, an entire school year! And even more than that she was going to be able to stay with her Great Aunt Rosengurtal in Germany while she did so. Germany where part of her family was from, Schwitzen, her mothers maiden name. Her mothers family. A slight nod. She remembered now, it was a great year, she'd hit a growth spurt while she was away, her chest growing out, her hair taming, her braces being taken off. By the time she returned she was almost a new girl. And she spoke German fluently, very fluently. 

"I never meant for it to be that." she sighed and looked away. "I just...I couldn't pass that up...I missed Aunt Rosie--"  
"That's a lie you couldn't stand that nasty old wrench!" Rei interjected. 

"Yeah...SO!" she sighed. "I just wanted an adventure...was that so wrong of me?"   
"I could have given you an adventure..." he grinned. "Anytime."   
"Rei." She warned giving him a harsh look. 

"Sorry....All the same you weren't the girl I knew when you came back." He crossed his arms.

"Yes I was!" Her temper was starting to flare. "You just started to tease me like the other boys did!!" her fists were at her sides. "You'd do the same cat calls, you...you'd yell the same pick names and write the same embarrassing lies on my locker at school!!" Her mouth twitched. "You turned your back on me!!" She pointed a small delicate finger at him. 

"Whoa! Hold on a second! You were the one who went artsy all the sudden and started taking advanced classes--"  
"You could have taken the same ones Rei Morgan!" She crossed her arms again. "Why do I even bother...it always goes back to this!!" she sighed. "I'm going down to open the shop...occupy yourself...I don't care!" she stormed out of the room. Both thought themselves the fool, they couldn't change...that was obvious.


End file.
